Kamen Rider Rez
by Lord Zero Master
Summary: This is the story of a young man trying to find the truth. One day he lost contact with his father and after sitting around for long enough he chased after him. What he didn't expect to find were monsters known as the EXE who wish to evolve the world in their image. Now he must figure out what's going on by fighting them as Kamen Rider Rez.
1. Level 1

**Kamen Rider Rez**

 **Level One: The Mystery Begins!**

* * *

 **March 13** **1991**

It was a nice spring day, in an old abandoned warehouse several young men were busy practicing different flips and jumps. They even did sparring matches against each other incorporating the different moves they were practicing.

"Man if we keep this up one day we'll be big!" One of them said with a smile while the other scoffed.

"Yeah but we'll have to work our asses off first," He started, crossing his arms, "We need to keep practicing and practicing."

"Or you can become all that you want to be…" A voice said causing all of them to turn, "By accepting my offer." The voice belonged to a big burly man who wore black leather boots, darkened blue jeans, and a black leather jacket alongside a black luchador mask, the front having a white skull put over the face. From the outfit the young men immediately knew they were in trouble.

"W-What are you talking about?" One of the men asked nervously.

"I can train you to be the finest soldiers imaginable; you've already got the skills," The large man stated as he held up his hand before gripping it tightly into a fist, "You would make fine soldiers for our Organization."

"Wait a second; you're with the terrorist group!" A man started before beginning to back up, the others following suit. However the larger man snapped his fingers and soon enough men with padded body armor and swat gear stormed the warehouse. While they didn't wield guns they all had large pole staff's with them.

"I was never going to give you a choice in this; it was either do this the easy way and volunteer. Or you would do this the foolish way and run before we caught you. Know that I, Ruin, will bring to my Master personally."

"Not so fast!" Another voice called out as a suited man in the colors of red and black jumped through a window, behind two soldiers. He quickly grabbed their heads and bashed them against each other. All of the other soldiers stayed on guard as they witnessed the newcomer. He wore a simple two piece semi-loose bodysuit. The front, back, outside's of the legs and insides of the arms were colored in black. He wore medium sized black gloves and long black boots. The rest was colored in a metallic maroon styled color. Attached to the waist of the suit was a silver belt, the front being a circular light that glowed green. There was a rectangular bump on each side, the one on the left having an opening to insert some kind of object. Lastly he wore a helmet, it was rounded and segmented, the front being yellow while the back was the same color of red as the suit, and he had a silver mouth-piece on with a black plus-shaped object attached to it. Lastly he had large emerald colored bug eyes. The eyes were glowing ever so slightly due to the poorly lit warehouse. The new warrior turned his head towards Ruin, "You are not kidnapping these innocent men." His voice sounded like that of a man's however it was also distorted ever so slightly.

"Whoa, go helmet dude!" One of the guys said with joy, glad to see that someone was going to help them out of this mess.

"Hey that's not just anybody that dudes a Kamen Rider." Another one corrected.

"Yeah that stuff's off the wall, go Kamen Rider!" Another cheered as they all began cheering soon enough. The soldiers looked at each other before glancing at their boss who looked like he was going to pop a vein.

"Well…" Ruin started, his voice showing frustration, "Kill him!" He yelled out as all the soldiers soon charged at the Kamen Rider who assumed a defensive stance, ready to fight them off.

* * *

 **April 19** **2015**

A young man sighed as he sat at the local park, seeming a bit down. He was someone who seemed to not be more than at least twenty-one, had black bushy hair, fair tan skin, dull azure eyes. He wore a black shirt with some pixel designs on it along with a white jacket, blue jeans, and white running shoes.

"Why…" He started as he pulled out a phone, not seeing any message notifications as he held it tightly, "Why aren't you answering?" He asked with a sigh before going on the internet and going to the Youtube App. He then typed in something and looked up videos of a Kamen Rider fighting against several men in body armor, "Maybe watching these old news tapes will lift my spirits."

"Kenshin, your still watching those old videos?" A voice asked causing the man to jump and turn his head. It was a young woman; she had fair light skin, fairly long auburn hair and hazelnut colored eyes. She wore a white button up shirt along with a grey skirt and black leggings. She also had one a grey coat and yellow scarf.

"Jeez Haruka… don't sneak up on me like that." Kenshin started, holding his chest slightly, "You're going to give me a heart attack."

"Sorry, is this seat taken?" She asked as Kenshin shook his head, prompting her to sit down next to him, "I saw you at the market today, you seemed pretty out of it."

"Well you know trying to decide which kind of crab is good to get is a bit hard. So of course I would kind of space out there." He shrugged it off, not really wanting to talk about what was really bothering him. Though Haruka could tell that her friend was lying, she had been friends with him for a good couple of years already, she could tell when something was wrong.

"So I've got a question, what made you suddenly interested in that guy you keep watching." Haruka said pointing at the Kamen Rider in the videos, "He was called a Kamen Rider right?"

"Yeah, he showed up in the city when a Terrorist Organization wanted to take over." Kenshin started, "I still find it pretty cool, being a major in programming and wanting to go into being a video game developer. To think that there was a hero fighting who used Video Games as the motif of all things."

"Wait seriously?" Haruka asked, "How can you even tell?"

"Well in his fights he used cartridges to give him a boost in different areas." Kenshin said forwarding the video to a point where he used a cartridge and gained super strength, "Not only that but the outfit, the red, black, and yellow helmet. Those are colors of the Famicom, as such he always called himself the Famicom Rider."

"Man Kenshin I didn't think you were such a nerd." Haruka teased, giggling at the fact that she was calling him out on knowing these things right away like muscle memory.

"Well of course I have to be." Kenshin said with a chuckle, "Otherwise I wouldn't be in programming or video game developing. Ever since I played games since I was a kid I was always enamored by video games. As I grew my interest grew and now I want to create games for people to enjoy."

"I'm honestly surprised you're not going into the same line of work as your father." Haruka admitted, causing Kenshin's eye to twitch, however she didn't notice this and continued, "Him having a programmer could work out well for him, and you two would finally be able to be together again."

"Yeah… but I'd rather not." Kenshin admitted, not wanting to act out in front of his friend, last thing he needed was showing her that he had daddy issues, "I want to forge my own path, one that makes me happy."

"I guess so…" Haruka agreed before looking up at the sky, "Hopefully you find what you want in life."

"Yeah, I hope so too." Kenshin said as he put his phone away and stared up at the sky as well.

* * *

 **April 28** **2015**

It was a nice windy night; the air had finally started to cool down after it was decently warm for the day. However not all was calm as outside a warehouse were the sounds of sirens as several police cars had been pursuing a stolen vehicle. Surprisingly the driver had managed out smart them for the most part, but he wasn't able to predict the spike strip they would set up and nearly spun out of control. The person then supposedly fled into the warehouse with the police soon surrounding it.

"What's the status?" A voice asked one of the police officers as a detective walked up to the group who were all positioned near the entrance. He wore a slick fit grey suit and shoes with a red button-up and black tie underneath. He had messy brown hair a bit of chin stubble and dull azure eyes; despite this he was still fairly young.

"Well Detective Kawaguchi, we've cornered the perpetrator but he hasn't moved out yet. We can only assume he's trying to find an escape route." A police officer replied while Kawaguchi nodded, before they heard rustling, soon seeing the criminal in question casually walk out of the warehouse with his hands up.

"Stay where you are criminal!" Another officer shouted as they all raised their guns and pointed them at him, to which the man remained calm. It could be seen now that he was wearing odd attire, he had a black button-up shirt, pants, shoes, and black fingerless gloves. The shirt was slightly unbuttoned from the top area as well as it being messy and not tucked in. Over it all he was wearing a red leather coat but it could be seen now how odd he looked despite the red coat. He had pale white skin and ruby red eyes, along with smooth silver combed back hair that went to the back of his neck.

An officer had walked up with cuffs in order to restrain the criminal however Kawaguchi realized that this was going way too easy. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his pistol to try and shoot the man before the officer got too close. The man in the blink of an eye knocked the officer off of his feet before crushing the officer's stomach with his own foot, "You'll make a fine monster." He said pulling out a purple like disc and throwing it at the officer, the disc seemingly entering the man. Before the criminal could continue he was shot several times by the police officers and Kawaguchi, however all the bullets did were bounce off of him and cause small sparks.

"What the hell is this guy?" Kawaguchi asked as he got ready to fire again before the criminal began wagging his finger at them.

"You shouldn't be worried about me." The man in red said with a devilish smirk as the officer from before began to slowly rise, letting out grunts of pain and discomfort as black like ooze began emerging from his uniform, enveloping him and creating a jet black armored humanoid figure, the only detailing it had were various grey lines used to show the different armor pieces. His face was now a simple grey screen with seven dull white lines in the shape of a cube like eight. The former officer soon began letting out guttural roars of anger as tentacle like wires began to emerge from his back, forming out of the black ooze like substance that was still leaking from him, "You should be worried about him." The man in red said before the ooze began to slide down to the creatures hands, soon taking the shape of two large hand-held hammers, it raised its arms with the hammers up as a number flashed on its face, the lines lighting up to show a 9 on it. It soon slammed its hammers on the ground, the ground cracking before erupting in multiple small explosions, tossing cars, officers and causing great collateral damage to the surrounding area. Kawaguchi barely had time to get away and was knocked to the ground, trying to keep himself conscious in order to contact someone, he gritted his teeth however when he realized he was too dazed to do anything before he slipped unconscious.

* * *

 **May 16** **2015**

"Damn, even now I can't do anything about this." A voice said as gunshots were heard.

"Come on ace, I know you can do it!" Another voice called out in encouragement, "You've dealt with worse than this!"

"No, no! This is the end!" The first voice yelled out in fear before an error noise was heard.

 _ **GAME OVER**_

 _ **CONTINUE?**_

"Damn, and here I thought you had this level beat." The second voice said, now revealed to be a man in his mid-forties, despite this he looked good for his age, he had short black hair and brown eyes, he wore khaki pants and a red short-sleeved button up shirt, "Oh well, better luck next time champ."

"Yeah…" The first voice started, revealing it to be Kenshin, "Still I managed to get farther than I did the last time." He said with a smile, bouncing back up from his short depression at losing at an arcade game.

"Yeah you did." The older man said crossing his arms before holding out his arms and pointing his fingers at the younger one, "You're pretty good."

"Pretty… good?" The younger man asked before the two began laughing, "Ah man Arata, you sure know how to make me laugh."

"Well hey; it's what I'm here to do." The older man now known as Arata replied, the two shaking hands, "I'd be failing horribly as an arcade owner if I didn't treat my customer's right. So how have you been Kenshin? How's school been treating you?"

"Well I got my first degree in programming." Kenshin replied casually, "I plan on furthering my studies but I am going to take a break. Let me tell you all that computer stuff, very complicated and overbearing. It's only now that it's over I've been able to relax."

"That's good to hear." Arata said with a smile, "I'm sure your father must be pretty proud, especially since his talent seems to be rubbing off on you." However Kenshin gave a bit of a frown at this, "Is something the matter?"

"Sorry… it's just I don't like talking about my father." Kenshin replied, "I know he's signed on to these big contracts and he did help me with a few things, but I don't like how he's been more distant with me lately." He said clenching his fists, his tone turning from uncomfortable to a hint of anger "It's like he's so engrossed in his research he doesn't want anyone else interrupting him."

"Oh come on." Arata said putting a hand on Kenshin's shoulder, trying to comfort the younger man, "I'm sure he's not doing this on purpose. I mean, you haven't stopped by in forever because of that degree you talked about. I was a bit worried about you, but you were focusing on what was important." He said before putting his other hand on Kenshin's other shoulder, "Besides, considering what you told me about his research, it sounds like he has strict deadline's so maybe that's why."

Kenshin however looked off to the side, his anger slowly subsiding, "Yeah… it's just what I don't get is why his phone is out of service." He said causing Arata to let go of him, tilting his head. Kenshin then looked at Arata, "I guess I'm just worried about him."

"If that's the case then why don't you visit him?" Arata said with a cheerful smile, trying to give Kenshin a positive idea, though all this did was make Kenshin more confused than cheerful, "You have an access card don't you?"

"That is true… I'll give it a shot." Kenshin started, "I just find it weird he's cut contact with me since a month ago though, and it's really weird and abrupt."

"He's cut contact for an entire month?" Arata asked, "Not even like a quick text or anything?"

"No, nothing, at first I thought he was just busy. But he usually has time to say he's doing fine." Kenshin started, his voice starting to show a bit of worry, "I've sent him a message every day for the past fifteen days, and he hasn't responded once."

"Then you should get going, it's already the afternoon and it's a decent drive." Arata replied as he walked past Kenshin and patted him on his shoulder, "Keep me informed alright?"

"Yeah, I will." Kenshin said as he ran for the door, passing another customer who had gotten back to playing a light gun game after eavesdropping on their conversation. Kenshin then ran out the door and immediately went over to his bike, which was a white stylized bike with blue words that read 'Mach Rider' on it. Kenshin revved up the engine and took off.

Meanwhile Arata noticed the man at the light gun machine, seeing him perform pretty well for someone he hadn't seen, "You've got good reflexes and accuracy. You play this kind of game a lot?" He asked impressed by the skill this man showed.

"Not really… it's my first time." The man said simply as he managed to get a high score on the first level without even trying. That was when Arata noticed the position at which the man held the plastic gun, it was just like a police officer's posture.

"Well you've certainly impressed me." Arata said with a smile, deciding not to let out the fact that he suspected the guy was a cop, "You've got to at least tell me your name."

"Sure, there's no harm in that." The man said as he continued to play, "The names Eiji, Eiji Kawaguchi."

* * *

It took about an hour give or take but Kenshin had finally made it to the facility, or the outskirts of it. He had to drive a mile out of town in order to get to it. The far distance was why he had moved into an apartment as his father pretty much lived at the facility. After parking his vehicle at the start of the dirt path that lead to the facility he disembarked it. He walked calmly towards the gate only to see no one was there keeping watch, tilting his head as he moved closer to the gate.

"What's going on?" He asked himself before his eyes caught a glimpse of the facility, soon turning his full attention towards it… or what was left of it. Kenshin ran over to the gate and grabbed the bars, pressing against it as he saw a badly damaged and burned facility. His thoughts quickly flashed over to his father, "Shit!" He called out as he quickly took out his key card and activated the gate, the gate however in response barely opened up.

Kenshin quickly slid through the opening and ran for the entrance, quickly opening the door which was already loose off its hinges. His eyes widened as the entire inside was a wreck, papers everywhere, equipment destroyed and non-functional, "Father!" He called out only to get no response, "Father!" He gave another yell before quickly running to where he remembered his father's office was. His eyes wandered every now and again, seeing all the burn marks and being surprised that this place was still standing. After opening the door to the office he ventured inside. However it had no clues or signs of his father in it whatsoever.

"Damn it…" Kenshin said as he fell to his knees, "Just what kind of mess did you get yourself into?" He asked before he heard some movement in one of the other offices. He quickly entered his father's office and hid under the desk, seeing something in a pitch black bodysuit and white armor walk by, "What the hell?" He muttered before feeling something cold on his back. He slowly moved out of the desk and turned to see what it was, seeing that it was a silver briefcase. Knowing that this had to be special if it was in his father's office he grabbed it and carefully made his way back to the entrance. Just as he opened the door he was greeted with a punch to the face, however he held up the briefcase and landed on his back as a result.

"Well what do we have here?" A voice asked, belonging to the man, or rather, being that punched Kenshin. It was the same thing he had caught a glimpse at earlier, it was indeed a man in a black bodysuit that was very fit to the man, as if it was a second skin. Lastly he had white armor that covered all around the area's it was in, the feet, shins, thighs, stomach, chest, back, shoulders, biceps, forearms, and hands. It had a rounded white helmet with a black v-shaped visor as well as a silver rectangular plate as a mouthpiece.

"What kind of costumed hell am I in right now?" Kenshin asked as he finally regained his senses, only to see the strange creature or rather man in front of him, "Just what are you?"

"I don't need to answer questions." The armored being replied simply, "What I want is that briefcase, I was looking for it."

"Do you know my father?" Kenshin asked as the armored being shook his head.

"What difference does it make?" The being scoffed as he slowly approached his prey.

"Then I know I'm not going to let you have it." Kenshin stated as he slowly rose, keeping a tight grip on the briefcase, "If it was in my father's office then this is important to him. I can't let you have it!" Kenshin broke off in a run quickly smacking the being in the head with it and managing to make it stagger. He then ran out the front door and made his way back towards the gate.

"You're not going anywhere kid!" The being yelled out as he busted through the doors. His armor began to let off steam slowly but surely, it was as if he would burst into flames any second, "I'm taking that briefcase!" He yelled out as he began to let off more steam, before bursting into flames. His black bodysuit turned a navy blue with his armor turning bright red. Flames circled around him before gathering in his palm, the flames taking the shape of a mallet before growing into a more larger and cartoon-like state. When the flames subsided a large mallet was seen with the being holding it like it was a pen.

"What is in here that makes you want it so badly?" Kenshin questioned before opening up the briefcase and seeing a manual before brushing it off to the side soon seeing a handheld gaming-like device and a blank blue cartridge, his eyes widening, having a feeling he knew what it was, "Father… just what were you working on?"

"Hey! Get away from that!" The being yelled out as he charged forward, raising the mallet over his head as Kenshin quickly grabbed the items inside. The being swung down as Kenshin threw the briefcase in the path of the attack, it getting hit as he slipped away. The being tilted its head, wondering where Kenshin went before noticing Kenshin had run off towards the side.

"Okay… Kenshin, calm down, calm down. If this is what I think it is, it may be my only hope for surviving…" He said to himself before noticing the back of the gaming device, there were two thin slots at the very edges. It also had a slot at the top of the back for the cartridge to go into. He then placed it against his stomach a silver belt strap shooting out and forming around his body, strapping the device to himself.

 _ **REZ DRIVER!**_

Kenshin felt something jolt through him in that moment before he noticed the being's attention was on him again. The being jumped forward and slammed its hammer down at the young man who somehow managed to back-flip out of harm's way. The being was clearly shocked by this newfound skill Kenshin had used, staying where it was for now. Landing but nearly falling due to surprise, "Did I just do that?!" He asked before looking at the cartridge and noticing there was one button on the device that was highlighted, the start button. He pressed the start button, wondering what would happen.

 _ **PLEASE INSERT BIO-CARTRIDGE!**_

"Alright…" Kenshin started looking at the cartridge he was holding before looking at the monster, "Looks like this really is my only hope for surviving," He said, determination filling his voice before he slammed the cartridge into the slot on the top of the device.

 _ **BIO-CARTRIDGE INSERT: PLATFORM STYLE!**_

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

* * *

 **Authors Notes:** What, did you really think I was going to unveil the main rider in the first chapter? Don't be silly. Also that first Rider you saw in the little intro bit, he's pretty much an homage to the FamiKamen Rider. He won't be showing up too much but let's just say he has a semi-important role in the story.


	2. Level 2

**Kamen Rider Rez**

 **Level Two: I'm a Kamen Rider?!**

* * *

"Alright…" Kenshin started looking at the cartridge he was holding before looking at the monster, "Looks like this is my only hope for surviving," He said, determination filling his voice before he slammed the cartridge into the slot on the top of the device.

 _ **BIO-CARTRIDGE INSERT: PLATFORM STYLE!**_

Bright blue grid-lines began forming all over Kenshin, covering every inch of his body aside from his head. Soon enough blue and white holographic pieces formed around him, configuring themselves into rounded armor pieces. The grid-lines then began to fill with black, the black becoming solid as it was soon shown as a black bodysuit that covered his entire body sans his head. The armor then became solid as it latched to his body, revealing that his chest, back, shoulders, forearms, shins and shoes were covered in rounded blue armor. There was golden lining along the collar, wrists, and ankles of the armor to make it pop out more. The white pieces had now formed and attached as rounded white knee and elbow armor.

Kenshin looked himself over in amazement before blue-outlines began appearing around his head causing him to look up in surprise. The lines began filling in before becoming a solid rounded helmet, it had dark green bug-like eyes with a compound effect to them. There was a silver flat mouth-piece, shaped like an upside-down trapezoid. Lastly he had a head crest right above his eyes; it was an upside down red-pentagon that glowed ever so slightly.

Kenshin then did the next action that came naturally to him; he began touching the helmet, then the armor, trying to look at himself from all over. He then began laughing in what seemed like joy as he looked at his hands, closing and opening them as he let out a yell, "Oh my goodness this is so cool!" It seemed as though all the worries and doubts he had faded in that one instant.

"Ahem." A voice said causing him to look in front of him to see the being still standing where it had been. At first it was wary, especially with the sudden transformation. As soon as Kenshin reacted however, it realized that he wasn't taking it seriously whatsoever, "I'm still here you realize this right?" Its arms were crossed while its foot tapped the ground ever so slightly, making it look like it was un-amused.

"Oh, right…" Kenshin raised a fist over to where his mouth was and cleared his throat, "Now then, where were we?" He asked with a bit more confidence in his voice.

"Oh? Just because you've got that armor doesn't mean anything kid." The being gave a snarl before charging with its hammer, performing a swing towards its opponent's chest. Despite the attack, Kenshin stayed calm, not moving. With the loud sound of metal being hit, Kenshin was sent flying backwards and onto the ground, "What…"

"Jeez that hurt…" Kenshin stated as he rubbed his chest, despite it not actually doing anything it helped him feel better about the pain. He slowly picked himself up and tapped his helmet slightly, "Guess this thing isn't as tough as I thought it was." His eyes however moved around as he finally realized that inside his helmet he had a Heads Up Display, or rather HUD, installed. He then saw a few codes pop up from time to time in the right hand corner. He recognized that they were the buttons that were on the belt he was currently wearing.

"Okay seriously kid, this isn't a game." The being said as it slowly walked forward, this time lighting it's hammer on fire, "I feel sorry for you, so hand over the belt and go home."

"Sorry to say but this is just the tutorial." Kenshin said as his left hand went for the buttons on his belt, quickly tapping in the code followed by the button labeled select. His shins, forearms, and hands began giving a blue glow as he looked them over before crouching back. He then leaped forward and right in front of the being, catching it off guard. The being was startled; instead of slamming his weapon forward he raised it up high into the air. With a swift motion Kenshin began punching as fast as he could against the beings chest, forcing it to stagger and drop its hammer. He then winded back his left arm for a big punch, soon swinging forward and straight into the beings chest. This time it was launched off of the ground before hitting the ground soon afterwards.

"Damn…" The being said as it held its chest, quickly flipping off of its back onto its feet, "To think that belt gives you that much power."

"Alright, what else can I do with this suit?" Kenshin pondered, soon noticing the start button pop up in the list of command. Next to it were the words, _'Press Once for Finishing Attack'_. "Well that works out well," He said pressing the start button once more.

 _ **FINISH IT: PLATFORM STYLE!**_

"Huh, hope this isn't too brutal." Kenshin stated as energy gathered straight into the palm of his right hand, he pulled his arm back to wind up for the punch as he crouched backwards like before, "Sorry pal but it's over."

"I am not your pal, I am an EXE!" The being called out, now referring to itself as EXE. It then ran forward, fire igniting in the palms of its hands. It then suddenly stopped and threw its arms forward, sending the flames towards the sides of Kenshin, planning on knocking him off balance before going in for the kill.

"Well EXE…" Kenshin said as he jumped forward, managing to avoid the fire from the sides, which in turn caused an explosion as he shot forward. With a swift motion he landed and punched at the same time, hitting the EXE in the chest, sending a pulse of energy into it, "Consider yourself defeated." The EXE staggered backwards as blue cracks began to emerge from the impact zone, soon covering its entire body. Unbeknownst to Kenshin a strange purple disc was ejected from the EXE's back, breaking into pieces before falling into the grass.

Kenshin wasn't prepared for what was about to happen next however, the blue cracks grew in number before its entire body shattered. But as it shattered a normal human was underneath, rather what seemed like a normal student of all people. The student was unconscious and fell forward, Kenshin quickly catching him before he fell onto the ground, "What the hell was that thing?" He asked a bit scared, not knowing if this guy was doing what he did intentionally. Kenshin decided not to ask and began slowly backing away before grabbing the manual that fell to the ground and bolting towards his bike. He saw the gate and pushed past it easily; opening it up completely by accident before stopping once he got to his bike.

"Wait…" He started as he looked himself over, "How do I get out of this thing?" He questioned before looking at the manual in his hand, going to the index and trying to find something. He then found a page number that lead him to de-transformation, oddly enough it was just to remove the cartridge and hold the start button for five seconds.

 _ **MISSION COMPLETE**_

"Mission Complete… well I guess it's more encouraging than Game Over." Kenshin admitted as he questioned the logic of the shut down sound. He then removed the belt and pocketed both it and the cartridge. He then put his helmet back on before revving up his bike and taking back off towards the city. It was a fairly normal drive as he managed to get back to his apartment in one piece. However as he placed the items on the table he came to a realization, "Holy shit… I transformed into a Kamen Rider!"

* * *

"This is Detective Kawaguchi." Eiji spoke as a few hours later they had arrived on the scene of the battle, having taken out his phone and put a call out, "We're at the scene you requested us to be at. There's no sign of it, we found something else." He said, listening to what the other person had to say before nodding, "Yes, it seems as though we found a victim and the pieces of that EXE Disc you told us about."

Meanwhile a young woman was checking the pulse of the student who was still unconscious. She had fair light skin, short brown hair, and amber eyes. She wore a fit black suit and pants, matching shoes, along with a white button up that was unbuttoned at the collar, "He's got a normal pulse, it looks like he's sleeping however, whatever happened he probably lost a lot of energy." She mentioned before putting on plastic gloves and carefully picking up the pieces of the shattered EXE Disc, placing them in a baggy before removing the gloves and pocketing it.

"We're going to question him once he wakes up." Eiji continued as he glanced over at the woman, "Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this and find what you're looking for professor." He finished before nodding at what was last said, "Of course, I'll contact you with more information soon."

"Alright so what are we going to do about Mr. Sleepyhead over there?" The woman asked as she walked over to Eiji, pointing back at the student who was still sleeping.

"Well my dear Kyoko, we could always just put him in the car and drive to the station. Save's us some time." Eiji stated, a bit of his voice sounded as though he was stating a fact rather than opinion.

"You realize that if he wakes up while we're driving he's going to freak out." Kyoko deadpanned, clearly not amused by her partners suggestion, "I'm new to this and even I know that's a bad idea."

"Then you have passed your fifth lesson." Eiji stated, Kyoko at this point couldn't even tell if Eiji was being sarcastic, sincere, or just plain stupid, "That being said, why not just shake him a bit and question him here?"

"Okay good, you have a better idea." Kyoko said, feigning slight surprise as she went over to the student and began shaking him a bit.

"Well of course, it's elementary my dear Kyoko." Eiji said with a bit of a grin causing his partner to shoot her head back with a glare.

"Okay first off, you're not Sherlock Holmes, and I'm not Watson. Second, cut the crap already, the guys waking up." Kyoko said as the young man began to stir, Kyoko giving him some room as he slowly opened his eyes, giving a yawn as he began to get up.

"W-What… how did I get outside?" The man asked as he pushed himself into a sitting position, unaware that Kyoko and Eiji were right next to him, "Why do I feel like I was just kicked in the head too?" He asked as he had a really bad headache at the moment.

"Are you alright sir?" Kyoko asked causing the guy to turn and jump slightly, "It's alright, you're safe." She said, pulling out her badge and showing it to him, "We found you unconscious and on the ground, we were wondering if you could tell us what happened."

"I…" The man started as he tried to figure out what happened, "I don't remember what happened, it's weird, and I feel like I've been asleep this entire time. What day is it?"

"May 16th, 2015." Eiji stated as he pulled out his phone in order to make sure he had the correct date, though this made the man even more confused.

"May 16th, you mean it's not the 10th?" The man asked causing Kyoko and Eiji to both glance at each other very briefly, "You guys are serious aren't you? I've been out for 6 days?"

"I suppose so…" Eiji started as he looked at the man, "What was the last thing you were doing before you blacked out?"

"Well I was finally running out of steam after several exam's, so I was heading to a café to get some coffee… then just like that I can't remember anything else, just darkness." The man explained.

"Let's get you back home then, you wouldn't mind that would you?" Eiji suggested as the man shook his head, just glad that whatever had happened was over. Kyoko grabbed the man's arm and helped him up before leading him back to Eiji's vehicle. Eiji started up the engine as Kyoko helped the man into the back seat before sitting in the front. After dropping the man back at his own apartment, Kyoko and Eiji drove back to the station.

"Six days ago there was a report of a kidnapping at a café, several people went missing." Eiji stated as he concentrated on the road, "We found an EXE Disc next to his unconscious body, not to mention he said he was going to a café six days ago. Needless to say we figured out the cause of what's going on."

"Do you think the professor will find this information useful?" Kyoko asked.

"He's not into police work like we are." Eiji admitted, "That being said he may be able to find a correlation, plus he'll have that disc to use as data."

"It's all but confirmed then right?" Kyoko asked, glancing at her partner, "That guy was probably one of those EXE's. And whatever came along managed to reverse the process."

"Your intuition serves you well." Eiji said with a sly grin, "I'd like to say the same, hopefully that means there's hope for the missing police officers after the warehouse incident a month ago." Though after that his grin dropped, "I just hope we can clear this up as soon as possible, I don't like being a detective that has to be loaned to a professor just because he knows more of what's going on."

"Agreed, everything was going so well with you training me until we were both sent to Professor Inoue." Kyoko stated as she crossed her arms, looking out the window now, "I just hope whatever cured that guy is on our side."

* * *

Haruka yawned as she waited for Kenshin to show up at a closed down parking garage. It had been a day since he had gotten the belt and cartridge and decided that Haruka would be the first person he'd tell, "Of all the places he wanted me to meet him at… the park, the mall, a nice little plaza, even a café… he chose the parking garage. And one that's closed down too." She muttered as she leaned against one of the supports. However she soon heard an engine getting closer as Kenshin drove into the lot on his motorcycle. He slowed down to a crawl before stopping and parking his bike, turning off the engine and taking his helmet off.

"Sorry I'm late… I was just practicing before I got here." Kenshin stated as he dismounted his bike and put his helmet onto one of the handles. However what he had said got Haruka to tilt her head in confusion.

"Practicing for what?" She questioned, wondering what he'd want her here alone for. At first she thought maybe he had a thing for her, but shook that off rather quickly. Why would Kenshin admit feelings towards her at a parking garage of all places, and with nothing in hand either?

"Allow me to show you." Kenshin said with a smirk as he pulled out the handheld from the previous day. Shaking it slightly to draw Haruka's attention to it, "Now I know what you're thinking, but no, this isn't a handheld." He stated as he placed it near his waist, it forming the silver belt strap and locking the handheld in place.

"Excuse me?" Haruka asked seeing what had just happened, "Kenshin, what's going on?" She asked before seeing him hit the start button.

 _ **PLEASE INSERT BIO-CARTRIDGE**_

"What's going on is the coolest thing ever!" Kenshin stated as he pulled out the cartridge and slammed it into his belt, crossing his left arm diagonally over his chest, his fist closed, "Henshin!"

 _ **BIO-CARTRIDGE INSERT: PLATFORM STYLE**_

Kenshin swung his left arm to the side as the grid lines appeared around him once more, forming the bodysuit as the armor and helmet formed around him before latching onto him. Once again Kenshin had assumed the armored form he labeled as a Kamen Rider, "Kamen Rider VG." He said lowering his left arm before pointing at Haruka, "It's time to get your game on!" He called out as Haruka rolled her eyes and walked over to him, grabbing his hand with both of hers before lowering it while looking sternly at him.

"Please don't say that again." Haruka said with a bit of disappointment in her voice, "You really had me with everything up until the name and catchphrase."

"Oh come on, VG is a good name isn't it?" Kenshin pleaded, "And what's wrong with get your game on?!"

"VG is just short for Video Game which is dull, and get your game on is a lame catchphrase." Haruka stated, if anyone could hear Kenshin's heart right now it would sound like glass shattering.

"How dare you." Kenshin said turning around while crossing his arms, assuming a pouting stance, "What about the armor?" He asked slowly as he tilted his head.

"Not sure what you were going for but it works very well. I think the armor is pretty cool." Haruka admitted, looking over the rest of the armor now that Kenshin had turned around, "I see you've been putting that programming degree to good use."

"Huh? Do you really believe that I made this?" Kenshin asked as he looked back at Haruka, "I may have a degree in programming but even I don't know how this thing fully works."

"No I honestly don't believe that you made this." Haruka said as she crossed her arms, "Where did you steal this from?"

"Oh now I am hurt!" Kenshin said reeling back as he held his chest, "How dare you think that I'm a heartless thief who steals from others. No I found it in my father's abandoned office, remember how I mentioned a while back that he was contracted for a big project? I think this was it."

"Backtrack here, abandoned office?" Haruka asked walking closer to Kenshin, "Why did you say abandoned?" She asked as Kenshin sighed, dismissing his transformation before looking at her directly in the eyes, "Kenshin?"

"When I got the facility where my father worked, it was in shambles, no one was there." Kenshin started, trying to hold back that he was a bit scared in that moment, "I checked his office and I found the belt and cartridge in a briefcase. Then this weird thing called an EXE chased after me, I instinctively decided to use it after remembering of the Famicom Rider and then the rest his history."

"So there was no trace of your father there?" Haruka asked as her friend shook his head to answer, "What about that monster, you destroyed it?"

"Yeah… there was only one thing weird about it." Kenshin said scratching the back of his head as he thought back to the end of the fight, "Some random student just emerged from it afterwards, like the monster itself was just a shell that held the student inside of it."

"Did you find out if he was intentionally trying to attack you?" Haruka asked, a bit curious about this development but Kenshin shook his head.

"No I didn't." He started as he crossed his arms, "I just wanted to get as far away as possible and that's what I did." However what he didn't like at that moment was the glare Haruka was giving him.

"Idiot," She called out, "You could have found out some valuable information if you decided to stick around. Now you're running around with no clue and some random belt that gives you superpowers."

"Okay, so your point is…?" Kenshin asked but before Haruka could speak up the ground began to rumble as several explosions happened in a street several blocks away from them, "And suddenly this day just got ten times worse…" He said before running over to his bike and starting it up, "We need to get over there now."

"Are you being serious, what's this 'we' business?" Haruka asked as she walked over to the motorcycle, "You need to get us away from whatever caused that, not towards it."

"Listen I'm not going to leave you alone, but I can't just ignore the fact that I may be the only one who can stop whatever caused those explosions." Kenshin said as he began to rev up the motorcycle, "So either get on or your walking home alone."

"Fine…" Haruka sighed, mounting the motorcycle as Kenshin scooted forward in order to give her enough room, "But I'm only doing this because I want to see what exactly that armor of yours can do."

"Fair enough, and I'm only bringing you along because I need a cheerleader." Kenshin joked, but before he could let Haruka do anything he took off towards the source of the explosions.

* * *

"Sir, we've replaced our ammo with the bullets you've given us." Eiji said on the phone as he and Kyoko ran towards the scene of the explosions, "We should be fine on our own Professor Inoue, so you don't need to compromise your safety just to go out on the field."

"True, but an interesting development has occurred aside from the EXE Signal I've picked up." Professor Inoue responded, "I'll be seeing you soon." He stated before hanging up, Eiji growling in annoyance and pocketing his phone. The two detectives soon made it onto the scene; several cars were completely totaled with cracks all over the ground. A few shops had chunks taken out of them and windows broken, at the epicenter of the disaster stood a being that Eiji was familiar with.

"Oh you're joking…" Eiji said as he saw the being, it was the same one from eighteen days ago, the black, ooze-spewing humanoid that completely totaled all of the police officers in the area that day, "Kyoko, listen to me carefully." He told his partner, his voice firm and his tone serious, "We fire at the same time, keep up the pressure, and dodge everything he throws at us. Is that clear?"

"Crystal…" Kyoko stated as she loaded her pistol, Eiji doing the same as they both assumed firing positions. Luckily for them the being had not noticed them immediately as it was busy looking around for something else. The two soon began firing at its back, sparks flying as it grunted from the bullets hitting the tendrils and actually managing to remove a few of them. It soon turned its head towards them before turning its entire body to face them.

"Reload, and delay your firing, we need to cover each other more than we need to deal multiple hits at the same time." Eiji stated as the two reloaded, soon firing first before his partner began firing delayed shots after him. The sparks managing to hit the being in the chest, with sparks flying, it grunting in surprise now as it began to step back from the shots. However just as Eiji began reloading and Kyoko produced covering fire, it began to laugh.

"Eiji, it's laughing at us." Kyoko said warily as Eiji gave a bit of a gulp.

"You're the detective that was at the head of the police when I showed you what I could do…" The being said, remembering their very first confrontation, "It was hilarious to see you all flail around like that, but now I'm surprised." It stated, suddenly black ink began to form around it's right hand, extending and transforming his hand into a large mallet, "None of you could do a thing to me back then, but now, two of you managed to damage me." The screen on its face began flashing with lines, the lines forming numbers that shot by rapidly.

"Crap." Eiji said putting his arm in front of Kyoko and shoving her backwards before moving in front of her, "Get to cover!"

"Wait, what?!" Kyoko asked as the numbers began to slow down; soon flashing to show the number 3 was chosen. It slammed its hammer down, causing cracks on the ground that shot towards the two, stopping right in front of them and sending a burst of wind which knocked the two of them backwards and onto the ground.

"Damn…" Eiji said as he tried to pick himself up, Kyoko doing the same as the being began to walk closer to them, "Even on a low number it still packs a punch."

"Well duh, it's been a good chunk of days since I've been born." The being replied as he lumbered closer to them, the ink that was the hammer morphing around his arm and making it larger, even giving its hand a clawed look, "I've grown stronger than when we first met… of course you won't get to see me evolve even further beyond." He said raising his claw up only for bullets to hit him in the chest, forcing him to reel backwards in pain as he clutched his chest with his left hand, "Who goes there?!" He yelled out as a newcomer was behind the two detectives who managed to pick themselves up with the distraction.

It was a man in his late twenties; he wore a white button up which was unbuttoned at the collar, with grey pants and vest. Finally he had on a thin brown trench coat and hiking boots. He had pale skin, a slender build, and messy, olive colored hair along with his eyes being covered by his silver tinted glasses. He held in his hand a standard magnum pistol, removing the clip and replacing it with a new one, "I must admit the improved bullets get the job done better than the older model I had."

"Professor Inoue, what are you even doing here?" Kyoko questioned, sure she had heard of people taking matters into their own hands but this was ridiculous considering the situation.

"Saburo you idiot," Eiji growled, slowly walking towards his ally. "We are fighting a killing machine here, now is not the time for you to get involved!"

"Oh like your any more qualified than I am. Also please, call me by the proper title, I didn't go to school for nothing." Saburo insisted before immediately aiming and shooting again, keeping the being from advancing any further, "Besides I'm not the one going to defeat him!"

"I… what are you even talking about?!" Eiji called out, clearly confused and angered by the turn of events. However everyone went silent when two people on a motorcycle came driving onto the scene, Eiji and Kyoko turned back to see it before quickly moving out of the way, Saburo casually moving out of the way as well as the driver skidded to a stop in front of the monster.

"Alright, we made it." Kenshin said as he stopped the engine, Haruka violently tugging at Kenshin, "Haruka?"

"Who taught you how to drive?!" She yelled out before seeing the being in front of them, "And what the hell is that thing?!" She asked pointing at it; however no one expected it to chuckle as a response, as if it was focused on answering the random question.

"I am one of those who have obtained evolution beyond the confines of the normal human body." It stated as it looked itself over, before turning its head back towards them, "I am one of the EXE, you can call me Judge…"

"And you say my names are stupid…" Kenshin said to Haruka as the two dismounted the bike, Kenshin taking off his helmet and resting it on his vehicle. He then walked forward to face the now named EXE, "If it was up to me I'd name you The Blot, or something along those lines." He stated before taking out both the handheld and cartridge, causing Saburo to quickly step forward with a grin.

"So that was the signal I picked up." He said before quickly pocketing his gun and pulling out a tablet, getting the screen on before beginning to access a certain program on it, "Excellent, my assumption was right."

"Professor Inoue, would you kindly explain to me and my partner as to what the hell is going on?" Eiji demanded, "Who is this random guy that just popped up, and why is he going to play a game with that monster?"

"Shush!" Saburo called out, holding his tablet in one hand before he got out a portable ear piece and microphone, placing it on top of his left ear and activating it, "The magic is about to happen."

"Okay kid, I'm going to humor you, just who are you?" Judge asked as he stayed where he was, not knowing of what had happened to the previous EXE that had faced Kenshin.

"Allow me to show you…" Kenshin said placing the handheld on his waist, summoning the belt strap and attaching it to himself before inserting the Bio-Cartridge and moving his left arm diagonally across his chest before moving his right hand to press the start button, "Henshin!"

 _ **BIO-CARTRIDGE INSERT: PLATFORM STYLE!**_

Kenshin quickly extended his left arm to the side while moving his right arm back into a resting postion. In an instant the grid-lines formed as well as the holographic armor, the bodysuit forming as the armor became solid and attached to his body, completing the transformation, "Kamen Rider VG…" He started, nearly causing Haruka and Saburo to drop from the name, "Judge, it's time to get your game on!"

"You idiot it's Rez not VG!" Saburo yelled out in anger, "I wrote it on the manual for a reason!"

"I thought I told you to stop using that stupid catchphrase!" Haruka called out in frustration before the two looked at each other, "You hate the name too?"

"You believe the catchphrase is awful and unfitting as well?" Saburo asked while Eiji couldn't help but smack his face with the palm of his hand. Clearly he was done with the situation at this point. Kyoko on the other hand was silently clapping after witnessing such an amazing transformation, while she had to admit the name and catchphrase were cheesy, she was clearly enjoying the appearance of this armored warrior.

Meanwhile Judge sent a swipe at Kenshin who managed to jump forward, sending a kick to knock his opponent back. Judge growled as he grew more tendrils on his back and shot them out at Kenshin who began to dodge out of the way of them before getting grazed by a few that slowed him down, allowing the rest of the tendrils to hit him directly and knock him backwards. His suit sparking as a result of the heavy hits.

"Not good." Kenshin spoke as he slowly picked himself up, "Those hit a lot harder than I was expecting."

"Dear me this kid is going to get himself killed without help." Saburo said typing a few more inputs into his tablet, soon seeing that he had managed to synch up with the armor Kenshin was wearing, **_"Testing, Testing, One, Two, Three, can you hear me?"_**

"Okay this is new…" Kenshin muttered, "So what are you, an A.I. for my suit like Jarvis?"

 ** _"You idiot I am not an A.I. I am one of the people watching you fight, I activated an uplink on my tablet so that I could direct you on how to properly use the armor."_**

"So you're like Jarvis then."

 ** _"You can stop with the Jarvis comparisons!"_**

"Fine, fine… what do you want me to do?" Kenshin asked as he completely picked himself up, getting in a fighting stance.

 ** _"I need you to input the button codes and follow my directions, this Judge is already damaged so you shouldn't have to damage him too heavily."_**

"Alright then, lead the way." Kenshin said before crouching back, inputting a code as his legs glowed brightly. He then launched forward, doing a couple of hops to keep the momentum going as Judge sent the tendrils to attack again. Kenshin this time managed to balance and dodge the tendrils rather easily, inputting another code as he got closer. Once he got close he began punching Judge rapidly in the gut, blue energy glowing around his fists before performing a palm strike, releasing a pulse that sent the EXE staggering back.

"Why you…" Judge started before his claw formed back into its mallet form, the tendrils gathering around it to make a larger mallet, "I'll show you what happens when you mess with me!" He yelled out as the Number 9 immediately flashed on his face, "You will be judged!"

"Crap, we can't him hit anything with that!" Eiji called out, if Judge was indeed stronger from before then it would cause more collateral damage than his first use of the attack.

 ** _"You heard him! Just do as I say and we end this now!"_**

"Roger!" Kenshin said as he pressed another button combination before pressing the start button on his belt.

 _ **FINISH IT: PLATFORM STYLE!**_

Judge ran towards Kenshin, planning on slamming it's mallet down on him. However before he could even get close, Kenshin's legs and feet glowed in a bright blue, the rider soon jumping high into the air and confusing the EXE. It stopped, suddenly, nearly tipping over from almost being completely unbalanced, it looking up in the air once it was stable.

Kenshin soon let momentum carry him back down to the ground and towards Judge, holding his feet out for a stomp attack. The EXE quickly held its hammer over his body to reduce the damage. However Kenshin's momentum, combined with the energy of the attack, allowed his stomp to break through to the hammer and hit it directly in the chest, slamming it into the ground as a result.

"Game Over…" Kenshin muttered before stepping off of Judge, who's body began to crack just like the EXE before it. The body soon shattered revealing a police officer underneath it, the EXE Disc ejecting from his body and breaking into pieces. The reveal of who was inside the shell caused Kenshin to quickly back up in fear, "W-Why the hell was that thing a cop?" He asked as a hand was placed on his shoulder, his head tilting back to see that it was Saburo.

"You really don't know what you got yourself into, did you?" He asked as Kenshin gave an audible gulp, realizing that Saburo was right in that regard. Meanwhile watching the group of five was the same man in red that had created Judge from the Police Officer. He gave a small smirk as he kept his hands in his pockets, not at all disturbed or bothered by the fact that Judge had lost.

"Looks like this party is going to get crazy..." He said with a wicked grin, clearly amused by the fight that had just happened.

 _ **TO BE CONTINUED…**_


	3. Level 3

**Kamen Rider Rez**

 **Level Three: The King of the City!**

* * *

"You really don't know what you got yourself into, did you?" He asked as Kenshin gave an audible gulp, realizing that Saburo was right in that regard.

"Yeah… yeah I don't." Kenshin stated as he turned to fully face Saburo, "So I'm assuming you can tell me right?" He asked as Saburo grabbed the cartridge out of the belt before holding down the start button, dismissing Kenshin's transformation. Kenshin looked down as this complete stranger just took his belt right off of him, "Hey, I was using that."

"I know you were." Saburo stated, "But it's my invention so I can do what I want with it."

"Hold up, hold up, you're the guy who invented that?" Kenshin asked in surprise before turning a bit skeptical, "Okay, no, no, that can't be right. You can't be the inventor."

"Yet I was able to create an uplink to talk to you through your armor. I figured out how to turn it off without looking at a manual to do so." Saburo listed off, before taking a sarcastic tone with the young man in front of him, "Clearly I am not the inventor."

"Okay, okay, you proved your point." Kenshin said as raised up his hands, signaling that he didn't need any more proof, "Can you please explain to me what is going on?"

"Professor, what the hell was that?" Eiji questioned as he and Haruka walked over to the two of them, Eiji getting right up next to Saburo while Haruka went closer for Kenshin. Kyoko on the other hand walked over to the unconscious police officer, checking a pulse before checking his breathing. She then confirmed the same thing had happened to him like with the student and went to carefully collect the EXE Disc.

"What the hell was what? The kid right here transformed, I guided him, and he beat the EXE." Saburo explained, as if the entire situation itself was just one single fact, "And now I'm planning on explaining to him what is going on."

"Okay listen here Professor, as much as I'd love to go by your crazy logic, you can't just tell the kid about the situation and just recruit him. He probably has no stake in this." Eiji suggested, not knowing what connections Kenshin actually had to the situation at hand, "Not to mention all you wanted was that belt retrieved, not some guy along with it."

"Excuse me, this kid you two are talking about found this belt in his father's abandoned office, inside a facility that looks like it had better days." Kenshin stated causing the arguing professor and detective to quickly turn towards him, "Oh okay, now I have your attention."

"Perhaps we should go back to my office and discuss the situation at hand there." Saburo suggested, to which everyone else nodded, "Then it's settled."

* * *

After having spied on the battle between Kenshin and Judge the man in red had headed to an abandoned shipping warehouse. It was in a warehouse district though the area around this one was very worn out and aged. The warehouse itself was also heavily worn down due to it being the first warehouse in the area. As a result it was sectioned off in order to keep people away from it in particular. Once the man entered through a small opening he was met with near darkness.

All of the lights were non functional, windows were boarded up and covered as well to the point where only a few streaks of light could enter. As a result it looked as though there were spotlights in various areas of the warehouse. As the man entered the warehouse he was met with several voices muttering about his arrival, a few gossiping on where two others were supposed to be.

"Rize…" A voice called out to the man who stopped near one of the spotlights as a result, "Why are the other EXE not back with you? You know that it is not up to you to decide which one's get deleted."

"Relax Dusk; I'm not the one who did the two in. I didn't help them because I certainly thought they could do the job correctly." Rize stated as he kept his hands in his pockets, "Needless to say we have some new toys to play with as a result."

"Oh? Are you saying that the detectives have finally stepped up their game?" Dusk questioned as he walked into a spotlight to the left of Rize, causing the man to turn his head as a result. Dusk however seemed quite normal at first glance, he wore an indigo colored, closed tailcoat, along with matching pants, the suit having elements of Victorian design while also combining it with the fit and sleek style of a bodysuit as the clothes were very fit to his body. He wore dulled-metal boots and gauntlets that were lined with a golden coloration along with a long cape that reached his ankles with a popped up collar, the cape being a navy blue with gold lining. Any skin that was showing was seen as pitch black, only navy blue spiked back hair showing, which was decently sized, covering his ears as well. He wore a rounded silver mask that covered his face. The mask held a v-shaped visor, two glowing yellow eyes, with everything else being nothing but darkness, "Do tell me more."

"Well, it's not exactly the detectives. Don't get me wrong though, they have improved their weaponry considerably." Rize stated, holding a hand out as he gave a gesture of a gun firing before looking at his hand, "We're talking about a new armored hero here."

"I take it that he is the one who took out our two comrades?" Dusk questioned as his fellow EXE nodded in response, "Who was it?"

"Two words you and the others may be familiar with, Kamen Rider." Rize said through a big grin on his face, several gasps occurring as the unseen watchers were shocked at the news, "Not only that but we may have found the inventor of the device we were looking for."

"I will leave the situation to you then." Dusk stated before he turned to walk further into the warehouse.

"Oh?" Rize asked, the grin leaving his face as he put both hands in his pockets once more, "You really trust me to get the job done?"

"Of course, you're the most knowledgeable on the subject." Dusk explained as he continued further in, "I have other matters to attend to at the moment."

"So can I use any of our comrades to get it done then?" Rize called out, though he was met with silence for about a minute.

"Yes, just make sure they come back in one piece, otherwise you won't have an ally to hide behind when we send you out again." Dusk stated, his tone clearly showing that he wasn't going to tolerate any failure.

"Of course, of course, you can count on me to get the job done." Rize called out as he took out his right hand, waving goodbye for a bit before lowering it. He then raised it up to his mouth as he cleared his throat, "Alright then, Midnight Shinobi get down here." He said as a figure jumped from a higher area of the warehouse down to where Dusk was standing. It wore a form-fitting bodysuit stylized like a shinobi shozoko, with purple segmented armoring on his upper body, forearms, and shins. It's shoulders, elbows, and knee's had rounded silver armor along with a silver belt along its waist. Finally he wore a more armored version of the mask that goes around a ninja's face, with the mouth piece being silver while the rest of it was purple, with a silver headband that held a shuriken symbol finishing it up.

"What is it that you wish for me to do?" Shinobi asked as it knelt on his right knee, its left arm propped up on its left leg as he kept his head bowed.

"I need you to go after this Kamen Rider, use whatever means necessary. That includes the EXE in this warehouse." Rize stated as he reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a stack of EXE Disc's, "I'll also entrust you with these to make sure you get the job done."

"Of course sir, you can count on me to get the job done." Shinobi gave a nod before taking the disc's and standing up, soon jumping back into the darkness as Rize gave a small laugh.

"Alright, let's see if this Kamen Rider is all he's cracked up to be." He spoke to himself more than anyone else, turning and heading back for the entrance, "I want to know if I'll be able to have the fight of my life."

* * *

"Alright…" Saburo gave a big sigh as he opened up the door to his office, it was fairly small, and in front of the door was a coffee table with two three-seat couches on each side. Behind that was a desk with various books and papers as well as a computer hooked up. Various cabinets with files lined the back sides of the office as well as there being a bulletin board to the right of the desk. Off to the right side of the office was a television on top of a cabinet that stored a few game systems in it. Off to the left was a small desk and computer next to it, with various equipment and such hooked up, "I can finally take this crap off." He stated as he removed his brown coat, grey vest and tinted glasses, tossing them to the side on top of a pile of books before sitting at the main desk. He grabbed a small case before getting his actual glasses out and putting them on.

"You know that was very dangerous." Eiji stated as he sat on one of the couches, Kyoko sitting next to him as Kenshin sat on the opposite couch, Haruka sitting next to him.

"Oh please, the fact that we have the Rez System right now means that we have the advantage." Saburo stated as he placed the belt and cartridge on his desk, "Besides I wasn't going to pass that opportunity up, hence why I dressed like I did. It's why I dyed my damn hair olive in the first place."

"Okay, your fashion sense is fun and all, but you were the one who wanted to talk to me remember?" Kenshin spoke up as he was a bit tired of them just going back and forth with no real explanation given, "Or do you not remember perking up when I said I found the belt in my father's office?"

"No, no I do." Saburo said with a sigh, the kid's lack of patience was going to kill him; he knew it, "What is your name?" While he was asking the questions he decided to connect the belt to his computer, managing to gather data from it while keeping his ears open for what Kenshin had to say.

"Kenshin Yamada, son of Hiroshi Yamada." Kenshin stated as Saburo's eyes lit up, clearly the name was important to Saburo, so he continued, "I never really visited often so I can understand why you wouldn't have seen me around. Not to mention I usually visited when my father was on his lunch breaks anyway."

"Okay, okay, clearly you have a stake in all of this. And I assume you kind of want an explanation for what happened so I will give it to you." Saburo stated after having glanced at a few pieces of data on the screen, the data further solidifying what needed to be done.

"Professor, with all due respect..." Eiji started, "Why do we need to get a civilian involved? Even with his connections to Professor Yamada, it's still too dangerous."

"Normally I would say yes and maybe have him on the sidelines." Saburo stated before he stood up and turned the screen around, showing off several pieces of data, one in particular highlighted to catch everyone's attention. There was a term known as a Synch Rate, and the percentage it was at was 90%, "But the fact that the young Mr. Yamada has a synchronization rate of ninety percent with the armor speaks otherwise."

"Synchronization Rate… hold on, was that the strange feeling I had when I put the belt on?" Kenshin asked, remembering how he was now a bit more physically able than before, "I was able to be a bit more acrobatic than before, so is that what that did?"

"In a way yes, you see the belt you wore, or rather in official terms, The Rez Driver, is supposed to try and synchronize with the user, anything below sixty percent is supposed to be rejected. Anything above is given access to it, and I'm assuming because of what you said you were able to access its hidden function." Saburo explained before noticing everyone was quiet while listening to him, waiting for the next part, he soon cleared his throat, "The hidden function is to further unlock the other percentages of the brain in order to unlock the true human potential hidden within us."

"So all those theories about us using only ten percent of our brain power are true then?" Haruka asked, only now piping up due to this new information that shed light on a previous fact.

"Yes, those would all be true." Saburo nodded, deciding now would be a good time to get into the meat of what had happened, "The Rez System was designed to be simple combat armor, Professor Yamada was contracted by the government to create a super soldier. While the idea of a serum was tossed around we deemed it too dangerous to be used, so we cancelled that system which was known as the EXE System. I worked tirelessly with your father to create the Rez Driver, but on the eve of its completion everyone else decided to rebel against us due to their favoring of the EXE System, infecting themselves with it and becoming EXE."

"So the people who I fought purposely did it then?" Kenshin questioned, wondering why a student and a police officer would willingly subject themselves to that kind of transformation.

"No, you see the EXE System, or rather as we call it now, Virus, is a parasitic serum. It unlocks the hidden potential inside humans but creates a shell around them as well, using the host as a power source. As a result the host has no memories of what happened during their time as an EXE." Saburo explained, though Haruka noticed that the professor seemed to be withholding some type of information. Kenshin in the meanwhile was just glad to have something to go off of.

"So what exactly happened to my father?" Kenshin finally asked, wondering if Saburo knew only for his face to turn a bit grim as Saburo lowered his head, "Is he-"

"-He's gone missing." Saburo finished, deciding not to worry Kenshin too much, "He had asked me to escape and continue our research while he stayed behind to try and stop the EXE. The next day I had gone back but there was nothing there, no body, no evidence, nothing. In my panic I had forgotten about the Rez Driver and Bio-Cartridge we had hidden and it was only until now that I realized we would need those two pieces of equipment in order to fight against the EXE."

"Now I know I'm jumping to conclusions but, would I be able to find out what happened to my father if I kept fighting the EXE?" Kenshin asked as Saburo nodded, using a few tools to make a few adjustments as he inputted new data into the Driver. Kenshin took the nod as a yes before turning his attention to Eiji and Kyoko, "Listen I know you guys are detectives and are worried about civilians but I need to do this, you've heard everything so far right? So please, let me join this team."

"Your commitment is something that I can see so yes I'll allow it." Eiji said as he crossed his arms before looking over at Haruka and gesturing towards her with a nod of his head, "However I can't allow her to join as she has no stake in this and she's just a civilian."

"What do you mean I have no stake in this? I know Kenshin, isn't that good enough?" Haruka said ticked off that she was just being pushed to the side.

"Your right, she doesn't really have a stake in this." Kenshin agreed much to Haruka's dismay, "But she's my friend, I dragged her into this, if we were being watched then she's a part of the group in that person's eyes. Besides you either let me and her in or you don't get me at all."

"She can join the group, besides the detectives can teach her some tricks to help her keep up." Saburo mentioned as he worked on re-calibrating both the belt and cartridge. It seemed as though he didn't care who was brought along, so long as Kenshin was their guaranteed guy he didn't mind, much to the annoyance of Eiji.

"That's fine, I'm sure we can find something to teach her." Kyoko agreed with Saburo, deciding not to push the issue any further, "Right Eiji?"

"Right…" Eiji replied a bit perturbed that everyone was seemingly against him on his opinion of Haruka.

"But first some ground rules." Saburo told Kenshin, though he was still busy recalibrating the equipment that he didn't bother looking up to address him properly, "The name of the belt is the Rez Driver, the system it uses is the Rez System. Your name is Kamen Rider Rez not VG, you will not be using that stupid catchphrase, and the name of the form you use is Platform Style. Stick to using these terms please."

"Okay, okay, I got it." Kenshin said, a bit surprised that Saburo was being apprehensive over the name, "Can I still get a catchphrase though? Like, Game Start or Level Start or something?"

"I think Game Start is a way better choice in terms of catchphrase." Haruka mentioned.

"It still does have that bit of cheese though but not as much as the previous one." Kyoko piped up much to Eiji's surprise.

"Game Start is acceptable." Saburo mentioned before a loud beeping was heard from his computer monitor speakers, filling the room with an annoying alarm sound, "Seems like our work for today is not close to being done. We've got an EXE Signal activating at a nearby construction site."

"Well looks like I know what I'm doing today." Kenshin said getting up and walking over to Saburo's Desk, the professor giving him the Rez Driver and Platform Bio-Cartridge.

"Good luck out there; I'll maintain contact from here." Saburo said as Kenshin began to head outside, Haruka about to follow before Saburo stood up, "Ma'am, as much as I know you want to help your friend out right now, I do not feel comfortable letting you go out there without protection. If you want to see the fight you can help me monitor it."

Haruka gave a small pout; clearly she wasn't happy about being sidelined, "Fine…" She grumbled as she went over to Saburo's desk.

Kenshin gave a small chuckle as he put the Rez Driver on his waist, the strap forming as a result, "Sorry about that Haruka, maybe next time." He gave a small smile before heading out, Eiji and Kyouko quickly heading out after him.

* * *

Several construction workers were seen running out of a construction site that had been started in order to make a large building. Several civilians were curious as to what was going on when a few began running away once they saw what it was. An armored gorilla-like man began to walk out of construction yard; it was gorilla-like due to its large piston-like forearms that made its normal legs seem tiny in comparison. As such it used its fists as feet as well to lumber forward. In clear view it had bronze colored armor that acted like skin; despite this he seemed rather muscular for a normal human-shaped EXE. The EXE's chest, stomach, hands and feet being colored gunmetal grey. Lastly it had a helmet that was shaped in a similar fashion to a gorilla's though it had a black y-shaped visor, two yellow glowing circular eyes being present amongst the blackness.

Midnight Shinobi gave a chuckle at the fleeing crowds, walking over to the new EXE and patting it on the shoulder, "Well then Amber Primate, what say we get to work on recruiting more EXE's?" he asked only to be responded to with a simply grunt, "Ah of course your freshly baked, I shouldn't have expected a conversation anyway." He said, walking forward before stopping suddenly, "I can sense something…" He said before turning his head to the right, now hearing a motorcycle approaching as he saw it in the distance, "He's here." He stated, tapping Amber Primate's shoulder to get him to look in the direction of the motorcycle. As soon as Amber Primate would look that way he would soon notice that Shinobi had vanished, this confused the EXE as he wondered where his ally had went.

Meanwhile Kenshin noticed Amber Primate and immediately inserted the Bio-Cartridge into the Rez Driver, pressing the start button, "Henshin!" He called out as the transformation began to occur while he continued to speed for Amber Primate.

 _ **BIO-CARTRIDGE INSERT: PLATFORM STYLE!**_

 _ **'Kenshin what are you doing?!'**_ Saburo called out as Kenshin continued to ride towards Amber Primate, pressing one more button on his belt after his transformation completed itself.

 _ **FINISH IT: PLATFORM STYLE!**_

Kenshin began to glow a bright blue, the blue soon transferring to the bike itself. However Kenshin was so caught up in the moment that he failed to notice the energy dissipating right as soon as it transferred to the bike.

"Rider Break!" Kenshin called out, causing Amber Primate to turn in Kenshin's direction entirely. It opened its arms up with its hands fully open before slamming them inwards. This stopped the bike while also crushing it slightly. Kenshin was silent as Amber Primate just stared at the Kamen Rider with more curiosity than anything else. Giving him a look as though it was asking him if he really thought that was going to work.

' _ **You idiot, did you really think that was going to work when that bike isn't even calibrated to work properly with the Rez System?!'**_ Saburo yelled out through the comm-link before Kenshin immediately jumped off of the bike, the powerful EXE tossing it to the side as a result.

"My custom made bike…" Kenshin started as he began to grip his fists tightly, "You'll pay for that!"

' _ **That was your own damn fault and you know it.'**_

"Shut up Jarvis!" Kenshin called out before running towards Amber Primate, managing to duck under his swings and hit him square in the stomach, only for the EXE to simply stare down at him. Kenshin looked up and then back at where he hit, hitting the stomach a few times more before being smacked away, "Jeez, what is this guy made of?"

Amber Primate gave out a growl as it turned towards Kenshin, "So you're the one Shinobi talked about." It spoke in a semi-robotic voice, as though it had some consciousness to it but not enough to be considered fully able of thought.

"And what if I am?" Kenshin asked, pressing a button combination in while he had this down time, only for Amber Primate to jump forward, slamming its fist downwards. Kenshin jumped forward while angling himself towards the side, he then performed a spin kick against Amber Primate's head, the force of the kick managing to get the EXE to stagger back. However the sturdiness of the head and force of the kick was enough to send Kenshin backwards. Kenshin landed on the ground and pressed a short combination, his legs glowing as he began running forward to keep up the assault.

Amber Primate acted quickly, clasping both hands together before bringing them down at Kenshin once he was close enough. Kenshin however decided to take it head on, pressing another short combination as his arms glowed, soon crossing his arms and catching the attack with them; however he struggled to keep them up.

' _ **You realize you can't be attacking this thing head on right? You need to think of another way to beat it.'**_

"What do you think I'm trying?" Kenshin spoke through gritted teeth, he lowered one arm and began pressing a combination once more, the weight of Amber Primate's arms slowly getting to him. He powered up his arms once more allowing some relief before he quickly sent another punch at the stomach, still there was no reaction aside from a grunt. However that was before gunshots were heard, sparks flying from Amber Primate's back as it withdrew its attack.

"I am amazed that you've yet to destroy this thing." Eiji commented as he and Kyoko continued to fire at Amber Primate, a few shots accidentally making their way to the stomach where Kenshin had punched a few times. The bullets hit their mark and sparks flew as Amber Primate grunted some more, actually moving back as a result.

"Wait…" Kenshin said seeing the reaction, "That's it; we just have to keep hitting it! Guys aim for the stomach!"

' _ **Now you've got a good plan.'**_

Eiji and Kyoko began shooting at Amber Primate again who charged in their direction, managing to get a few more bullets in before being forced to roll to the sides. It turned towards Eiji with Kenshin rushing in; having activated the button combination's once more in order to give him a speed and strength boost. He managed to slip in front of Amber Primate and began letting loose enhanced punches against the EXE's stomach, each hit managing to hurt more with sparks soon flying after each hit, the group having managed to break through its defenses.

"Kenshin get out of the way!" Eiji commanded as Kenshin did just that, moving his body to where Eiji had a clear shot. Eiji then fired off his remaining bullets, Amber Primate giving a howl of pain as it staggered back, sparks spewing out of the area that was hit. It got ready to attack once more before it felt several bullets hitting its back, sparks flying as it turned towards Kyoko who was continuing to shoot at it.

"It's time to finish this." Kenshin stated as he pressed the select button on his belt, blue energy pulsing towards right hand as he flicked his wrist, "Its game over for you now, EXE."

 _ **FINISH IT: PLATFORM STYLE!**_

"Rider Punch!"

Kenshin gave out a yell causing Amber Primate to turn its attention back onto him. However by that point it was too late for the EXE has it was punched directly in the stomach by Kenshin. The blue energy pulsated from the hand into the EXE forcing Amber Primate back as a result. The EXE attempted to move forward only for its entire body to crack up in an instant, the shell shattering as the host fell forward, revealing it as an ordinary construction worker.

"Looks like our job here is done, to think a construction worker could create such a sturdy EXE." Eiji commented as Kyoko went over and checked whether or not he was still alive and breathing. She then confirmed that the worker was fine as Eiji put in a call for the ambulance, once that was done he put his phone away, "Alright I think we should head back."

"What makes you say that?" Kenshin asked, ready to dismiss his transformation as Eiji grabbed his wrist, stopping him from deactivating it.

"Well there is the fact that we've got a bit of a paparazzi problem." Kyoko commented as there were a few people who were still watching, some who had taken pictures and even gotten video of the fight.

"Okay, let me just grab my bi-" Kenshin turned to his bike only to be met with the realization that it was totaled, "My bike…"

"We'll get it towed and fixed up for you." Eiji reassured, "We just need to get out of here before people start asking questions."

"Oh come on, can't I do like maybe one tiny interview?" Kenshin asked.

"Listen I hate it when people stick their nose into other people's business, especially civilians who have nothing better to do than to fawn over a masked hero." Eiji responded, giving a sigh of frustration as he heard camera shutters, "Come on let's get going." He then proceeded to drag Kenshin off with Kyoko following afterwards.

"Most peculiar… no wonder Rize was impressed by this armored warrior. Perhaps I can get a good test of my skills from facing you." Midnight Shinobi spoke from a rooftop as he had surveyed the battle, soon turning and jumping backwards, disappearing from sight.

 _ **TO BE CONTINUED…**_


End file.
